Filial Piety and Rites in The Book of Rites
Never say "Li Le". From the above discussion, we can see that the thought of filial piety in the Book of Rites is rich and comprehensive, which not only discusses the origin, position and function of filial piety, the relationship between filial piety and loyalty, etiquette, politics and teaching, but also discusses the overall and individual significance of filial piety in micro-details. Accordingly, the author thinks that The Book of Rites has completed the theoretical creation of filial piety and reached the peak in the history of Confucianism in China. To get such an evaluation, the following questions must be involved: What is the relationship between the filial piety thought in the Book of Rites and the Classic of Filial Piety? To discuss this issue, we should first discuss the era of the two books, and then discuss the relationship between them from the comparison of their contents. The Book of Rites was written in the Western Han Dynasty, but the years of each book were different. It is generally believed that The Great Learning and The Doctrine of the Mean were written by Ceng Zi and Zisi, so this article does not take these two articles as the object of discussion. Most of the chapters in the Book of Rites were written by Confucian scholars in the Qin and Han Dynasties, except for some chapters whose authors and times are conclusive, which seems to be conclusive. There are different opinions about the author and age of Xiao Jing, and the author agrees that it is a Confucian work in Han Dynasty. Therefore, it can be asserted that The Book of Rites is earlier than or contemporary with The Book of Filial Piety. From the content point of view, the Book of Filial Piety is similar to the Book of Rites in many aspects, so that Liang Qichao said that the Book of Filial Piety is "extremely superficial in meaning, although it is not necessary to read it, it is still not as good as Dai Ji's Forty-nine Articles." Indeed, from the discussion of the above article, we can see that the Book of Filial Piety and the Book of Rites are similar. For example, the Book of Filial Piety: "Filial piety is loyal to the monarch." "Book of Rites: Sacrificing Righteousness"; "The Book of Filial Piety": "The father loves the mother, and the father respects the husband." "The Book of Rites-Funeral System IV": "The father respects the monarch" and "the father loves the mother"; "The Book of Filial Piety": "The parents who suffer from it dare not damage it. Filial piety begins. " "Sacrifice": "Where heaven is born, what the earth does, no one is great. All parents are born and all children are returned, which can be described as filial piety. It is filial piety not to lose his body and not to humiliate his body. " Even the five-person filial piety thought discussed in the five chapters of the Book of Filial Piety can be seen in the Book of Rites: "A gentleman's filial piety is also cited by admonition; The filial piety of a scholar is also obedient to virtue; Shu Ren's filial piety is also bad to eat; Ren Shan dare not be the minister of the three virtues. " (Filial Piety in Dai Zhong): It refers to the filial piety of kings. Sande is three old people. In the Han dynasty, the position of "three old people are more important" was established to provide for the elderly, and each of the three old people is more important. The son of heaven raised him with his father and brother. Therefore, the filial piety of the king lies in "being kind and not daring to serve the three virtues." Of course, it is undeniable that the Book of Filial Piety, as a text devoted to filial piety, is superior to the Book of Rites in its systematization and easy dissemination, although it has little new creation in theoretical achievements. Both of them were included in the Thirteen Classics, which had a great influence in history. However, their influence has different characteristics. The Book of Filial Piety is less than 2,000 words, and the monograph, coupled with the vigorous promotion of the rulers of past dynasties, has a much greater impact. No matter intellectuals or ordinary people in cloth, they may read the Book of Filial Piety, while the Book of Rites can only affect scholars with a certain Confucian cultural accomplishment. However, due to the infinite generalization of filial piety in the Book of Filial Piety and the argument based on it from the beginning, the subtle details such as "the metaphysical refers to the device" may be ignored, which makes many specific moral requirements of filial piety mentioned in this paper ignored. In a word, the theoretical problems of filial piety and the universal principles of filial piety, which were created by the Book of Rites and systematized by the Classic of Filial Piety, were widely spread by the Classic of Filial Piety. Filial piety in The Book of Rites comes from many books on children's education and family training, such as Twenty-four Filial Pieties, Thirty-six Filial Pieties, Disciples' Rules, Daughters' Classics, etc. It has long influenced China people's family life etiquette and social communication, and has become the lifestyle of a country of etiquette. Therefore, we should not underestimate the great influence of The Book of Rites on the formation and development of filial piety in China and the traditional lifestyle of China people.